ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A couple dozen ConocoPhillips/Circle K-branded stores around Albuquerque, N.M., run by PCF Saleco LLC have posted "cash only" signs on their gasoline dispensers and store windows, and pumps at several stores had run out of gasoline as of Thursday, according to several employees and customers interviewed by The Albuquerque Journal.
An employee at one store told the newspaper that the "cash only" signs went up at all the Albuquerque stores Monday.
"They had us close off all our debit and credit machines," an employee at another store told the paper. "We're as curious as you are."
Most employees at 10 company stores contacted by the Journal said they had not heard anything about speculation they might close, temporarily or otherwise, and declined further comment.
Many of the pumps were out of gasoline, and one store was selling premium gasoline for the regular price, one observer told the paper.
PCF Saleco, which did not return the paper's requests for comment, operates 78 mostly ConocoPhillips/Circle K stores in New Mexico, Kansas, Utah and Missouri.
A local PCF Saleco representative emailed the Journal's circulation department Thursday, saying, "please discontinue service/deliveries to our locations" until some issues had been worked out, added the report.
As reported in CSP Daily News on August 27, several Phillips 66-branded stations in Kansas City owned by PCF Saleco temporarily shut down due to "financial difficulties." Some stations have since been reopened.
See Related Content below for previous coverage.
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